When the Meiji period started in 1868, new mass media, such as newspapers and magazines, emerged and helped launch modern advertising practices.
Through the introduction of printing technology from the west, newspapers could now be printed in large volumes at low cost, and thus became a central medium for advertising, capable of effectively distributing large volume of information. This encouraged the expansion of advertising agency businesses that mediated and coordinated newspaper advertisements. Also during this period, new lithographic printing technology was introduced, popularizing colorful posters and flyers, known as ebira.